Life begins at the end of your comfort zone
We’re pretty adventurous eaters and over the past year we’ve tried everything from beef tongue hot pot in Japan and cow brain soup in Turkey to – yes, INSECTS in Thailand. And honestly we walked away from each of those three meals with a smile on …
Building a new family, going camping on weekends, flying across the country for weddings, and apprenticing for a new position as a guard – that’s what our dog’s been doing while we’ve been away. I don’t know if we were lacking love from each other, competing …
At our Workaway in Turkey we had made some amazing ties to the community. Will played soccer every Tuesday with a group of guys, we visited the neighbors for tea and watermelon even though none of us could understand each other, we met the mayor, had our own doctor, cooked for friends who baked for us, and met many of the local business owners. Up until now, out of all the places we had traveled, we really finally felt at home and part of a community in Göcek!
It was bittersweet when our time ended but awesome that our Workaway hosts had hooked us up with four days of sailing with a friend of theirs! Göcek was a town that mainly serviced the marinas and a lot of the international yachters that came through. We had already been inquiring about getting sailing lessons after all the money we had saved volunteering at Cloud 9. It was even better news when we heard we would be able to get a mini sailing lesson for FREE! Nothing comes for free these days.
So we bought some groceries and boarded the 49 foot Jeanneau Sun Odyssey with our new friends Aran and Aziz. Aran was our Workaway hosts nephew and Aziz was their lifelong friend who part-owned Budget Sailing with his brother. Aziz was delivering the boat for a customer to another marina near Bodrum and could take some companions for the ride. Sweet deal!
The first day on the boat was a little rough for Will and Aran but Aziz, being a smart and simple man, basically said to us that
sea sickness is all in the head. Although its related to balance and equilibrium, a mismatch between what your body and brain is feeling, you can override the feeling of sickness by just opening your eyes and focusing out on the horizon.
By the next day the boys were much better.
We spent our days waking up to beautiful sunsets, eating simply, starring out into the vast seas, docking at secluded beaches or quiet bays, swimming in turquoise blue waters, exploring Roman-style ruins, and celebrating our luck each evening. It was the most peaceful four days we could ask for, where every breathe of fresh air felt like it truly cleaned out the toxins that had been lingering in us for years. Now we know why people seek and love this lifestyle on the water, why they dream of retiring on a sailboat, touring the world by water.
Although our 49 foot boat slept eight people, the four of us were still in fairly close quarters and with that we got to know each other a lot
better. One thing that really stuck in our minds was our chat with Aziz about what him and his brother would do with the Budget Sailing business when they were ready to retire. He smiled to himself, took a pause as the rays of sunshine licked his skin, the fresh crisp wind whipped through his hair and the waves crashed around the ship he captained, then responded,
“Why would I ever want to retire?”
That really hit home and completely shifted our perception of everything we were bred into believing back home. Go to school, start a career, work your whole life and retire on a beautiful beach somewhere far away.
But what’s there to retire from if you’re already living the good life? Why retire when you can continue making money doing what you love? Why not work for yourself forever? For the people you serve, your beliefs, your passions, or whatever? Why wait until you retire to do what you’ve always dreamt of doing?
Why work your youth away at a job that’s less than desirable, saving anywhere and everywhere you can, just to sit on a beach in Mexico or Cuba like a beached whale when you’re 60? Who even wants to be a beached whale?! When people see beached whales they organize groups to get those whales put back in the ocean, back to where they’re from and what they’re meant to do!
It’s something we’ve learned through reading books and listening to people from different cultures, that you have to know yourself and what makes you an optimal human being. I guess it’s to have a purpose that aligns with what makes you feel best, to be in a place where you can’t tell if your working or if this is just your normal life. Our time away has given us an ambitious outlook as to what we really want to achieve when we get back – to design a life that makes everyday optimal for us.
Our supportive relationship being the backbone, we are now wiping the slate clean when we get back to go after a life that we 
know exists. We are very fortunate after this trip to be on the same page because it was a huge gamble to see if we would even work out, but with big gambles in life you also can receive huge rewards. Our reward was finding a partner in crime! A good relationship is essential in our opinion – if your going to build skyscrapers, you NEED to have a solid foundation! Close relationships have to be sound, loving and supportive in order for you to go and venture into the “good life”. So with the epiphany we received on this boat ride it was a good moment for us and we are happy to share the little lessons along our roller coaster with you.
So the next few days we admired Aziz for his wisdom and for the shift he propagated in our thinking. We slept on the deck of the boat, underneath the stars thinking about how we’ll set ourselves up to live the good life now. The type of life that we don’t need to take a vacation from, or eventually retire from.
We won’t be starting our own sailing business since we don’t necessarily love living for extended periods on a boat. But we’ll be brainstorming to create a life we don’t have to retire from because the traditional retirement isn’t the right fit for us, and it might not be for you either. We don’t want to take up leisure full time and want some challenges to keep life interesting!
So by sharing we hope the doors of your mind are cracked open a bit for you to be aware of the many ideals one can live by. The rabbit hole of possibilities are endless for you, never think you are limited in your life in any way. All things are possible, all you need to do is get out of your own way to live a life on purpose.
Cheers, you good looking birds.
Well, Father Time waits for no one. As we glance at our rear view mirror, we have some treasures from Peru we have to share. We are very inspired to share tales of our adventurous experiences in these mystic lands. We can honestly say that when …
Getting lost is very much a frustration and a thrill for us as we explore new cities, towns and villages. Sometimes we’re physically lost and other times we’re emotionally or spiritually lost. Sometimes one person is super stressed out and wants answers and the other …
We initially bought this book because we were both interested in learning more about genetics. But specifically we wanted to understand which DNA test (ie. AncestryDNA, Family Tree DNA, 23andMe) was best for Will to take. We were hoping to learn more about about tracing your ancestry through either the father’s line (y-DNA) versus your mother’s line (mtDNA) and the pros/cons of each.
Let’s say the book didn’t help us too much. Instead we just ordered a test based on online reviews and who would ship to Turkey, which ended up being Family Tree DNA.
Stay tuned to hear about Will’s DNA Results!
River out o
f Eden: A Darwinian View of Life
by Richard Dawkins
Reader: Paulina & Will
Method of reading: Hardcopy
Rating: 2 out of 5
Golden nugget: Simplifying genetics isn’t easy.
The concept of the book was to create an analogy to the river of DNA. But like we said, it’s just not that simple.
Let us know if you find a better book that explains human ancestry and how to differentiate between DNA tests!
It’s very common for many people to go into something and not think of all the things that could go wrong. But that’s okay because if you had to know all the consequences then you may not ever do a majority of the things you …
We want to let you know that if you don’t have money coming in while you are traveling and you are running off savings, you will soon notice the pace of money disappearing. So let’s talk about it … disappearing money. The world is abundant, with …
Passion grows in the pants, whoops, we mean plants …
Imagine being up in the clouds, away from civilization with no form of communication, following a nutty little man, smiling ear to ear snipping away here and there at this plant and that one, yelling “Aaaiiiiiight.” That’s what we did for a good portion of our time in Turkey. We were volunteering on a permaculture site called Cloud 9 with an assortment of animals and even larger variety of plants. It was another Workaway opportunity. Our hosts, and now lifelong friends, Tayip and Deborah welcomed us warmly as they drove us 9km up a rough mountain road and brought us to our new home for the next month. We had anticipated that we would be taking care of a few animals, learning about bees, doing some labor work on the land, a lot of watering and other small projects. We didn’t realize we’d learn so much about permaculture and gardening.
As kids we were fascinated by the idea of something sprouting from a little seed and watching it grow over time. During our stay on Cloud 9 we were Tayip’s children and we were fascinated by his passion for the plants he grew, the fruits they sowed and the land he cultivated. We reveled in every moment we spent following Tayip around, learning about gardening and growing as we applied those concepts to day-to-day life. Because life is like a garden, if it’s not thriving and growing, it’s dying.
Now some may find learning about gardening uninteresting and dull but trust us it’s fun!! However, what’s most interesting to us is we found an authentic, spirited character who had found his niche. A person that does what he loves and feeds his soul. Have you found that? We sure haven’t and we know not everyone finds it easily.
In Indonesia we met a guy from Portugal who’s passion and work are now integrated because he draws bird illustrations for encyclopedia’s and other references but as a hobby enjoys bird watching. How did he find his niche? Shooting down high flyers with his dad! When they had to identify the birds they looked at them closely, listened to their song and eventually went in for the kill. But the closer he looked and the harder he listened, the more he fell in love with his prey. So here he is today, a full-time, passionate birdwatcher and illustrator.
In Poland we met a woman who is also full-time working in something she enjoys and is passionate about. She moved to Poland, married a man, had two beautiful boys, worked a high corporate position at a company, and then got fired. Well, you can respect the shock she must have felt and the fear of the unknown. She didn’t know what she wanted to do next but a friend suggested in the meantime to write an eBook and enter a contest, just for fun. Now she is the successful author of about 20 books, with 2.4 Million eBook pages read per month and is loving it. She’s on a wet, romantic carpet ride and there’s more and more people grabbing towels to clean up the mess in her page turners.
But back to the passion’s of our nature-loving Turkish friend, Tayip. Since six years old Tayip could be found with a pair of shears in his back pocket. He is the youngest gardener we’ve ever known of and he was learning everything he knew through experiencing it. You could describe him as a mad scientist, experimenting with his plants on Cloud 9 but Tayip was also able to turn his fig passion, borderline obsession, into supplemental income by selling the cuttings from his trees. Day-to-day all he has to do is give his trees some trimming and water, and later can see the fruits of his labor when he turns one branch into multiple saleable cuttings. Now that’s an integrated life!
So here is some of the techniques we learned on Cloud 9 specifically about the fruit trees:
Grafting – taking the tissue of a bud or branch from one tree (has to be from the same family ie. apples and pears) and touching the tissue of another root tree.
Ground layering – when a low hanging branch or a damaged branch is encouraged to create new roots in the soil while its still attached to the original tree. This can be done by weighting the branch with some heavy rocks so that it is now under the soil. Once the roots have grown, the branch can be cut from the parent tree and replanted!
This was Paulina’s favorite method and she can’t wait to experiment at home.
Air layering – similar to ground layering, the plant is encouraged to create new roots while its still attached to the original tree. The difference is that it is done above the ground, in the air, in a bag that creates a moist growing environment for the roots. Once the roots have grown, the branch can be cut from the parent tree and replanted!
Although Tayip does so much with his wife at Cloud 9, they enjoy the company of helping hands … and paws .. and chickens, turkeys, peacocks, quail, and hedgies!
But after a long day of gardening and growing, we all need to take a rest to regenerate so we can grow some more tomorrow.
Will was the one who introduced the phrase “If you’re not growing, you’re dying” and since we’ve let it be a guiding light in our lives. Growing doesn’t necessarily mean physically growing but it means growing your brain. So as long as you’re on your continuous path for learning you are growing, this could be learning new recipes, taking a language course, training a dog, reading books, learning a new skill, etc. Just like when we were children and we were rapidly growing, developing and learning, continue to be curious like a child in your adult life and learn something new.
We want to see if we can write blogs in random places. Now it’s no problem to find random places seeing that we are often in random houses, cities, parks, camping in the middle of nowhere, and finding little gems of a spot while exploring. …
Paulina hates being video taped. PERIOD! Here is a little compilation Will put together of her trying to avoid the camera in the streets of Bangkok. Let’s say she’s starting from the bottom and hopefully by the end of the trip she’ll be a little …
As a kid we had something in our lives that made it easier to venture out or even come back to for refueling. Something like a blanket, a parent or that shirt that was worn way too much. As we’ve gotten older, it comes out in other forms like a partner, a job, a habit, or even a way of acting socially.
The real challenge is to identify this “blanket” so that we can continue to purposely behave in a way that we are vulnerable. In those moments of being exposed, that’s where magical territories await. The place where the most growth happens in our personalities.
There are times in which you’ve seen someone or something and thought, “I’d like to do that” or “I admire that quality he/she has. I wish I could do that.” Well, right there is the moment when the security blanket is evident. It’s a frame of mind that you, me and everyone else around us has. But it’s when we meet the most special people that we start to get comfortable with the idea of who we really want to be.
Someone once told us in passing that it’s not what happens to you in life, it’s who. Thinking of this comment later on, we reflected on the influence of relationships we’ve had along the way. Boy, we can say that looking back and connecting the pieces we are grateful, now we get it. Family relations, intimate relations, and friendly relations all alike; every relationship had its role. But it’s when the blanket is dropped that you start to meet the special people that help shape you. It’s the moments when you are naked that you are vulnerable, where you really start to feel the change. Knowing this and letting our vulnerabilities show becomes a challenge but we have the ability to learn, change, adapt and innovate.
Now the “start-up” is you, with all the resources available and all you have to do is put in the effort. You don’t need to worry about failing anymore as long as you’re failing forward; because from making mistakes you can still win.
You can see examples of this throughout the history of our civilizations. Sharing of information to building technologies, forever churning the quality of life for the better. For us traveling we are looking around our environments whether in Japan, Indonesia, Thailand or right here and now, we have everything we could ever ask for and all we had to do is be born in this great time. Thanks mom and dad!
So the hardness of life isn’t prehistoric anymore. We don’t have to hunt our food, we don’t have to build our houses and we have clean water available with minimal effort. So now the hardness of life lies in the mind of us all. Our own brains have a huge capacity for whatever it is that we want out of life, we just need to allow ourselves to get a little uncomfortable.
Coming back to the point though, we can now put things into perspective. Who is it you want to be and is your security blanket holding you back? How can you put yourself out on purpose so that you live on purpose? Be vulnerable to have conversations and stop hiding because sooner or later you’ll be looking back and wish you did more with your time. 
Writing out loud is what we do with our mouths but words are invisible and lost in the wind. Your words are like clothing to your thoughts … What shall I wear today? But I better choose quickly because I’m on the spot! It’s almost as …
Day 5: Doi Inthanon – Siriphum & Sirithan Waterfall- Chom Thong – Mae Ya Waterfall There was nowhere to cook breakfast and it was our last day so we left bright and early to make the most of it. We checked out Siriphum waterfall and …
Day 4: Pang Ung – Mae Hong Son – Maeaukoluang Waterfall – Doi Inthanon
This was our kilometre day, we had a lot of ground to cover. We were headed to Surin waterfall but along the way stopped in Mae Hong Song off Hwy 108 to restock on water and visit the local market. We both love the local markets for many reasons: you can usually have a small sample to try things, it’s cheap and it’s very cultural. We continued on to Surin but when we got to the intersection and saw it was another 20km just to get there we opted for a smaller waterfall, Maeaukoluang, that was 1km away. It was beautiful with multiple levels and different pools to swim in. No one else was there so it was a more intimate environment, if you know what I mean. There was large washroom facilities there that were not functioning but probably do in high season.
We had the intention of camping at Doi Inthanon National Park but didn’t know whether the campsites were, at the summit or base? So we headed for the summit at 2565 MSL (meters above sea level) where the temperature was quickly approaching 10 degC in the evening. The summit was definitely worth seeing and we wished we went earlier so we could have went into the Thai National Observatory. They also had a temple up at the summit where one of the previous Kings bones were kept as well as a Neutron Monitoring Station that was off limits to us;what is that anyways?? We watched a beautiful sunset from the highest point in Thailand but knew we should get on our way since we still had to find a place to sleep! We went to the national park where camping cost 60 THB and to rent two mats to sleep on was 40 THB. This campground was right in town and definitely would not have been the normal place we would stay but it was really dark and late, plus we were exhausted. Also there was no campfires allowed or cooking facilities so we went into town to get some delicious Thai food for 80 THB. 
Expenses: 550 THB = $20 CAD
Distance: 279.1 km
